Aantekeninge by drie klein geskiedenisse

Hein Willemse

Abstract

The reviewer identifies three disparate texts, Koos Malgas Sculptor of the Owl House (Julia Malgas and Jeni Couzyn, 2008), TheBlack Countess (R. E. van der Ross, 2008) and Die verhaal van Elandskloof (“The Story of Elandskloof”, Tobie Wiese assisted byRicky Goedeman, 2009) as counter-discursive texts writtten against specific hegemonic practices. The first text presents a reevaluationof the contribution of Koos Malgas to the famous Outsider Art place, The Owl House in Nieu Bethesda; the second isa short biography on the black countess, Martha Grey and the third is a lay history of a Dutch Reformed Church mission station,Elandskloof. The writer discusses the obvious similarities between these texts such as the co-operation between authors, the marginas a site of resistance, the fragmented documentation of marginalised lives, the formation and re-formation of identities and thetensions around expressions of ‘truth’. Key words: identity, marginality, subaltern history, testimonio.